Bumbling "the Birds and the Bees"

Ineffective and unreliable sex ed in the United States.

The lack of sex education is becoming an increasing problem in the United States. For being one of the most educated countries in the world, the U.S. is horrible about educating kids about sex. It isn't just because the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any other developed country, but it's also because issues related to STDs and proper sexual consent are also becoming a major problem. So what's the reason behind the lack of education in the U.S? Aren't schools talking about sex with their students? Yes and no.

The image above brings up the issue of #SexEd4All. Since states have access to diverse funding streams for sex ed, the Department of Education should be held accountable for whether or not sex ed is even being taught in schools.

This map shows that only 22 states mandate sex ed and only 13 states require that the instruction be medically accurate. Having only some states require sex ed is what is causing issues with teen pregnancies, STDs, and sexual consent.

Also, depending on the state, some school districts are able to have two totally different sex ed programs and requirements. For example, in Mississippi, while it is legal to talk about contraceptives, the law prohibits condom demonstrations in a sex ed classroom. In what is perhaps a direct correlation, Mississippi ranks #2 in the U.S. for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. From this, we can infer that since some students aren't receiving proper sex ed, they aren't able to make educated decisions regarding their sex life and about the basics of safe sex.

With the amount of overwhelming problems with the sex ed in the U.S., people have turned to social media to raise awareness and express their concern. People are posting their opinions on all platforms of social media to express their desire for #SexEd4All. Let's take a look at what some people have been posting about in regards to protesting the lack of sex ed in the U.S.

Although many people are trying to raise awareness by expressing their opinions through social media, in order for sex ed to change in each state, even more people need to become aware of the issues of sex ed in the U.S. Some people have tried to bring awareness through humor. Take these two examples for instance:

So what can we do to help change the ridiculous status of sex ed in the U.S.? Perhaps all we can do for now is continually try to raise awareness through the news and media. We also need laws to be created to make concrete changes. However, in order for laws to be made to make changes in "the how sex ed is implemented", people need to sign petitions and urge politicians to make a change.

We need laws that allow schools to have access to resources to be able to teach sex ed effectively in schools. Also, we need to make sure that kids are aware of the resources that can help educate them. For example, Planned Parenthood created a program called In Case You're Curious, which allows kids to find information or get in contact with someone that can provide them with answers to their questions regarding puberty, sex, contraceptives, you name it.